BMW will invest $237 million in battery cell center

BMW will concentrate all its battery cell expertise in a new center in Munich.

FRANKFURT -- BMW will invest 200 million euros ($237 million) over the next four years in a battery cell competence center in Munich, the automaker's home city.

"By producing battery-cell prototypes, we can analyze and fully understand the cell's value-creation processes. With this build-to-print expertise, we can enable potential suppliers to produce cells to our specifications," BMW board member Oliver Zipse said in a statement on Friday.

"The knowledge we gain is very important to us, regardless of whether we produce the battery cells ourselves, or not," Zipse said.